Recent waves of US strikes on Iran aimed at forcing open the Strait of Hormuz are also targeting Iranian military capabilities Washington would want destroyed before carrying out more complex operations against Tehran, according to an exclusive Reuters report citing three US officials.
The officials, who were granted anonymity to discuss military matters, told Reuters the strikes effectively strengthen the range of military options available to President Donald Trump, who has kept the world guessing about his next move after notifying Congress last weekend of a formal resumption of the conflict with Iran.
Now in its fifth month, the war has continued to rage since the collapse of a memorandum of understanding that was meant to halt the fighting and pave the way toward a peace agreement. Despite heavy blows to Iran's military since the US and Israeli campaign began on 28 February, Tehran retains significant drone and missile capability and has struck passing tankers as well as its Gulf neighbours. According to Reuters, the US military says its latest bombings have targeted Iranian air defence systems, coastal radar, missile and drone sites, and small boats and other maritime assets.
One US official told Reuters the strikes could be seen as shaping operations, degrading Iranian defences in case US forces are ordered to carry out more intensive operations in future. "This is helping set the stage, if needed," the official said. The Pentagon did not immediately respond to Reuters's request for comment.
Military options on the table
Reuters reported in March that US military planners were drawing up options to deploy American troops to Iran's shoreline to better secure the Strait, including sending ground forces to Kharg Island, the hub for 90% of Iran's oil exports. Such an operation would carry significant risk, since Iran could strike the island with missiles and drones from the mainland.
Trump said on Tuesday that he had ordered the military to avoid striking Iran's oil facilities during previous strikes near Kharg Island, but has left open the possibility of seizing it. "If we degrade them far enough and deep enough back, I would do that," he told Fox News. Trump has also threatened to strike a site linked to Iran's nuclear programme known as Pickaxe Mountain, a fortified facility built deep underground near one of Tehran's main nuclear sites.
Mark Cancian, a retired US Marine officer now at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Reuters that Trump's willingness to discuss military options such as seizing Kharg Island publicly cuts both ways. It could aid diplomacy by unsettling Iranian negotiators, he said, but is "bad for the military, because we're saying where we might be going."
Tactical wins, strategic stalemate
Critics of the war, including some in the US Congress, say that while it has achieved tactical victories destroying large parts of Iran's conventional military and defence industrial base, it has failed strategically to win concessions from Tehran. It has also given Iran unprecedented leverage over the Strait of Hormuz, a critical chokepoint for a fifth of the world's crude oil output. Even with its conventional navy largely destroyed, Iran retains the ability to strike commercial vessels using drones and rockets.
That has opened a debate within the Trump administration over the best way forward, Reuters reports, with a fourth official saying US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has been a advocate of escalating the military campaign against Iran. Imran Bayoumi, a former Pentagon official now with the Atlantic Council, told Reuters that Trump's sweeping recent comments on Iran appear aimed at pressuring Tehran in negotiations and keeping it unsure of the US military's next steps. "I would separate the noise from the actions," he said.
Source: Reuters
